These meetings were held with the Toronto Police Service’s Hate Crime Unit on Saturday as well as with Peel Regional Police (PRP) in Ontario and Surrey Police Service in British Columbia.

During an interactive session organised by the Canadian chapter of the Coalition of Hindus of North America (COHNA) on Saturday evening, Toronto Police acknowledged being aware of hate crimes against Hindus and asked the community to step forward to report such incidents so they could be probed.

“Our motive was to educate community how they can report hate crimes and for police to interact with us over our concerns. It was very important in terms of getting the emotion of the community communicated, including its frustration,” CoHNA Canada’s president Rishabh Sarswat said.

Police underscored the importance of reporting hate crime, not just for investigations to be undertaken, but also hate incidents so they could be officially recorded. “Because of a lack of reporting and recording of complaints, there can be denial of Hinduphobia,” Sarswat said.

While the community has welcomed Toronto Police’s role in preventing any disruption during a consular camp hosted at the Lakshmi Narayan Mandir in the city on November 30, it remains concerned over the actions of PRP following the November 3 violent attack on the Hindu Sabha Mandir in Brampton by pro-Khalistan radicals, and its aftermath.

On November 25, a Hindu community delegation met with PRP, including its chief Nishan Duraiappah. According to minutes of the meeting shared with the Hindustan Times, the community “expressed that people were looking up to the PRP to provide security, however, whatever they experienced in those days, their trust in PRP was broken”.

The PRP chief “acknowledged the fear and distrust felt by community” said the force intends “to build the trust back”. PRP is looking “to establish an Interim Hindu Advisory Committee or consultative committee to address the concerns around trust and relationship building with the community”.

The matter of PRP Sergeant Harinder Sohi participating in the pro-Khalistan protest was also raised and Duraiappah clarified the officer’s “conduct is subject to review and investigation by Peel Regional Police Professional Standards”.

Victims and eyewitness to the November 3 assault participated in the meeting and PRP “requested the delegation’s assistance in conveying to community that reported incidents will be thoroughly investigated and to encourage community members to report and/or provide all evidence such as videos, photos, social media posts to the police.”

Meeting coordinator and president of the Vishwa Jain Sangathan Canada Vijay Jain said the discussion “marked a constructive step forward” and the community “expects continued engagement and immediate, tangible results to rebuild trust and ensure safety”.

“The demands from the community to address 2-tier policing through a Special Investigation Team has been already been established. However, a lot more to be done to get the cases filed and progress on these cases to be checked,” he added.

Meanwhile, members of the management of the Lakshmi Narayan Mandir in Surrey, British Columbia, have held multiple meetings with the Surrey Police Service and apprised them of their concerns over arrests being undertaken within their premises of three counter-protesters who were opposing a pro-Khalistan demonstration against the temple hosting a consular camp on November 3.

Mandir spokesperson Parshotam Goel said they have “conveyed the message that this is not acceptable”. Charges against two of those arrested have been dropped. The temple management is seeking legal opinion on the grounds of the arrests within its premises being unlawful and the use of excessive force by police, especially while taking a minor into custody.